Infinity

Patrick & Harriette Regan

Age: n/a

Occupation:Motion picture

Number of Cruises: 8

Cruise Line: Celebrity

Ship: Infinity

Sailing Date: May 20th, 2003

Itinerary: Hawaii

production

RECENT CRUISES

Since Sept. 02, we have cruised 3 times prior to this Infinity cruise; HAL
to Alaska; Crystal Harmony, 14 days Panama Canal; and Celebrity Mercury -
coastal California and Cabo San Lucas, r/t from San Francisco.

We want to cruise more and are looking for a “home” cruise line that’s
more affordable than Crystal etc. and still has some premium touches and
better quality food.

We weren’t very happy with the food on the Mercury and are happy to report
that the rumors we’ve heard about the Millenium class ships having better
food are true.
GETTING THERE

The worst part of cruising for us is not the long line for embarkation and
debarkation but having to fly great distances to get to the cruise. You
might want to skip this section because it is basically a rant about a
difficult trip to Honolulu.

Aloha Airlines flew us to Maui from Vancouver, BC. We grabbed an Aloha
inter-island connecting flight to Honolulu.

Flight Attendants passed out free headsets along with a free Mai Tai and
then proceeded to turn a video promo on that boomed through the cabin.
Since they had given us headsets I requested that they turn off the in
cabin speakers so we wouldn’t be subjected to the overly loud volume of
the seemingly endless commercial (approx 18 minutes) for the airline and
the state of Hawaii. They refused.

After an OK meal of shortribs, they announced that the movie would begin.
They lowered the videoscreens and told the passengers in no uncertain
terms that they would have to lower their window shades.

We were flying for 6 hours over water in a small, twin engined 737-900 and
I wanted to avoid the claustrophobic feeling engendered by closing my
shade and I declined.

A Flight Attendant said I had to. I asked her if she was giving me an
order in her capacity as an aircrew member. I told her that I didn’t
believe lowering the shade for the movie was in her purview. The last time
I looked at any FAA regulations I read that flight attendants may only
give orders regarding cabin or passenger safety and security.

She sidestepped the issue and told me that everybody closes their shade. I
asked to speak to a supervisor and she sent me another person who admitted
they couldn’t order me to do it but I would have to do it anyway.

The request to close the shades during a movie has been made before and I
always compromise by lowering the shade halfway. These crew members got
truly heavy with me which is I guess the continuing legacy of the 9/11
tragedy. I will not fly Aloha again. I never realized before how much I
could miss United Airlines.

I spoke to Aloha customer relations after the cruise and they connected me
with Greg Chilson, Sr. Manager of that department, who did some research
and e-mailed me that the flight attendants’ authority does indeed not
include being able to order someone to pull their shade all of the way
down for the movie. Mr. Chilson apologized by saying
”If our flight attendants used “bulldog” tactics to get you to lower your
shade, I apologize. The proper response from our in-flight team is to ask
if you would like to sit somewhere else. However, you are not required to
move.”

AIRPORT TRANSFERS

We were met by efficient Celebrity reps in Honolulu who looked after our
luggage and took us to a van for the short trip to the Aloha Tower where
the Infinity was berthed. A beautiful sight!

The lines were long for security & embarkation but the magic of the
Captain’s club card put us in the shortest line and quickly on board.
THE STATEROOM

We booked veranda cabin 8006, Category 2A which was about the same square
footage as the recent Mercury cruise we took but the cabin storage and
design were far superior. The similar sized cabin on the Mercury was so
unappealing that we paid for an upgrade. We like the newer ships; cabin
ergonomics are being improved in gigantic leaps.

The bathroom was cruise ship tiny but well organized, with chrome railings
bordering glass shelves at shoulder level and counter level. It held our
bathroom stuff easily. The compact shower over the tub was squared off and
had room for my shower seat and I still had some leg room. There was a
sturdy grab bar on the wall at the rear of the tub and what I thought was
another grab bar. It looked just like the other one but it was vertical
and held the shower head and its hose. It was just to hold those things
but could easily be confused with the sturdy bar in the same tub. Be
careful in there. Efficient, artistic, simple industrial design. Love
those newer ships.

In the cabin there was a storage closet or cabinet that held everything we
had brought, and the wall opposite the bed was fully mirrored, giving a
feeling of spaciousness. Our luggage fit under the bed. A love seat across
from a mirrored wall with a vanity were in front of the sliding glass
doors to our veranda. Sitting on the veranda as be glided into a dock at
Nawiliwili is a particularly nice memory.

Celebrity mentions in their brochure that they are choosing colors and
mirrors that are geared to the smaller spaces, and they are right. It had
a great feeling. Floor to ceiling sliding doors led to the pleasant
veranda.

Our good friends Micky & Laurie joined us in a balcony cabin nearby. We
had considered Celebrity’s new “Concierge Class” which adds some
amenities; thicker robes, extended room service hours, flowers, champagne
etc. The cabin, however, is the very same but the cost is much higher just
for a few goodies. Crystal has an open house where you can see different
cabins during their cruises but the myriad of Celebrity balcony
configurations is a well kept secret. A deck and floor plan on the
internet can tell you a lot but the views and privacy factors are
sometimes a shock on the first day. The expensive sky suites with
oversized verandas are not very private. Those verandas are very visible
from the big pool and recreation decks.

LIFEBOAT DRILL

It was the most slipshod life boat drill we have ever experienced. It was
held at the ungodly hour of 10:30PM, Hawaiian time, which was the same as
1:30 AM Pacific time and 4:30 AM, Eastern Time. It took all of our
strength to remain awake late enough for the drill. We followed the
instructions in our cabin and reported to the muster station and were told
that we had reported to the wrong place.

The blithely officious staff sent us to yet another deck where we were
instructed to return to where we first reported.

Eventually we gathered under the lifeboats/davits and were then dismissed
without any crew members taking passenger attendance for this drill. It
was a true mess of people milling around, not sure where they should be.
It’s the first lifeboat drill we’ve attended that didn’t have a ship’s
officer watching over the hotel staff during the drill at our muster
station. There was no sense of the ships officers anywhere at this scary
excuse for a drill.

I shuddered to think what would happen in a real emergency. Celebrity
needs to clean up this safety issue on the Infinity and to have it earlier
in the evening, considering the average age of the passengers and the fact
that most everyone had a long, long day flying to Hawaii from the east and
west coasts.
ROOM SERVICE

We enjoyed juice/coffee and rolls some mornings on our veranda. We
appreciated having separate room service wait staff and not having our
cabin steward have to stop cleaning a toilet (as they do on some ships)
and deliver our continental breakfast.

CABIN STEWARDS

Bernardo from Goa, India, and his assistant Nigel from Bombay were great.
They kept the steel water jug full and the cabin clean, with extra towels
as needed. We wish the stewards could have a day off once in a while.

We would be glad to make our bed and straighten up one day a week on a
cruise, so Stewards could have a day off every couple of weeks. They had
18 cabins to clean and never stopped smiling.

THE TRELLIS DINING ROOM

Our table for 4 was perfectly located near the Captain’s table, and in
front of the 2-decks-high floor-to-ceiling windows all the way aft for my
wife and me and our friends Micky and Laurie.

We were near a waiter’s serving and organizing station but that never
bothers us. We like them nearby. Ruby from So. Africa was our waiter and
Jose from Spain was her assistant.

It’s great not having a language barrier with waiters and assistants. Ruby
had a glorious So. African flavored, universal English accent and Jose had
been a language major at Cambridge in England and spoke perfectly nuanced
English.

I don’t think Ruby will be a waiter for long...she was great and so
people-oriented without being obsequious, & Jose’s command of English and
his great attitude should see him becoming a waiter soon.

We’ll be cruising Celebrity again and expect to see Ruby or female wait
staff like her, moving up to a dining room asst. head waiter position.

We have seen no women in this position on Celebrity yet and it’s time they
started promoting more female dining staff. Title 9 doesn’t apply to ships
registered in other countries so it’s a slow process.

The food on the Infinity in the Trellis Room was good except for the
quality of the beef. The sauces and soups were very good.

We were served the best large, succulent lobster we’ve ever had on any
cruise ship. Yummy! Too bad it’s only served on one night.

SS UNITED STATES

The 4 of us booked one dinner at the alternative, $25. per head S.S.
United States dining room. It’s a lovely room with an art deco flair and
music from the 50’s. They try to overwhelm diners with very fancy service,
attempting to match the look and feel of the room.

The waiters and captains labouriously recite speeches that someone has
carefully written about the various dishes they are preparing tableside.

The bottom line is that the appetizers (goat cheese souffle) and the
desserts, crepes, chocolate souffle etc. are great and the entrees weren’t
as good as in the Trellis dining room.

2 of us ordered steaks and had to send them back. We were informed later
that they never should have served those steaks and that the butcher dept.
was at fault. They eventually found us better ones. The first ones were
really tough and impossible to eat.

They do Zabligione tableside and the waiter stirs up the mix to
consistency banging a spoon on the metal pan as he does it and it takes 10
minutes of hearing the click of the spoon against the pan. Then the
process starts up at another table. Yikes!

I know some folks have never experienced fancy tableside food prepartion
but the SS United States is not the place to start. The waiters have a
great attitude but are poorly rehearsed and don’t have enough background
in the food they are preparing; they just keep parroting the speech they
have learned by rote while they prepare the food. They also want to
simultaneously serve all the food in synch so if one thing is ready a
waiter just stands there letting part of the order get cold while waiting
for the other food to arrive so everything can be placed on the table at
in synch. Sort of like watching a 3 stooges comedy while your food gets
cold.

The SS United States needs less wait staff with more fine dining
experience. One of our party asked for some crackers with the soup course
and it totally threw the servers. We got the crackers eventually but it
took a lot of patience waiting for them to fit delivering crackers into
their tightly scripted dinner service. When you make the reservation they
tell you to allow 2 1/2 hours for the meal. It’s a long 2 1/2 hours. Save
your $25.00 per person.

CASUAL DINING

There is the Oceanview Cafe, starboard, aft of the buffet with a glorious
ocean vista. It’s open for dinner with a few simple, perfectly grilled
items, chicken, fish, steak, etc. and a $2.00 per person gratutity charge.

Well worth the 2 bucks to eat on deck or inside, in the twilight, without
having to wear long pants. Reservations need to be made with your Asst.
Maitre d’ or by phone during certain hours. It was much better than the SS
United States.

During the day the Oceanview buffet has a theme lunch available; European,
Italian, Mexican, Asian etc. depending on the day of the week. It looks
like Mexican or Asian or whatever food and there is plenty but it still
has a certain institutional sameness.

MORE DINING OPTIONS

Celebrity doesn’t stint on places to eat...there’s the Breezes grill with
burgers, dogs, veggie burgers and pizza, next to the pool, the Oceanview
Grill all the way aft of the Oceanview Cafe serving soup, salad and
sandwiches; the Cova Cafe with a European type breakfast & our favorite
place for eating healthily, the Aqua Spa cafe. Love that Aqua Spa!

The Aqua Spa was the place we went to eat at least one healthy, heart
smart meal per day. A great example of spa cuisine. Not a groaning board
like the buffet, just a great selection of healthy snacks, salads, soups
and entrees.

The only place I ever saw the ship’s officers was at the Cova...the rest
of the time they are invisible except for the obligatory Captain’s party.

There is Sushi at the buffet in the evenings but no other Asian food
except for one day at the buffet, in a theme lunch. There is also free ice
cream served all afternoon, and pizza and a baked pasta dish are also
available until 1AM.

They have simple, acceptable, red sauce mostly, banquet level pasta
station at the Oceanview Cafe. We would always check what Horace the
starboard side pasta chef was making every day before we made a decision
on what to eat when we chose the buffet for lunch.

There are a couple of omelet stations for breakfast and when we went to
the buffet we liked to go to Anthony from Jamaica’s station...he
cheerfully made a great omelet every time.

THE GRAND BUFFETS

Ruby our waiter said not to miss this buffet and we stayed up for it and
stood in long lines to photograph the buffet and were then sent to the
back of other long lines in order to actually eat. We skipped the food; we
couldn’t handle another long line at 30 minutes after midnight. We were
PO’d. We wanted some of that good looking buffet. The worst part was that
if we had gotten there later we would have been at the head of the food
line; instead we ended up in the photography line which put us at the end
of the food line. Penalized for arriving early.

The Grand Buffet could replace one evening meal in the Main room; that way
everyone can enjoy it. Considering the age demographic of this cruise we’d
like the buffets to be day and early evening events. The Grand Buffet and
a couple more were held near midnight. I preferred the way Crystal did it
during the day with all kinds of well prepared special buffets. Crystal
also closes other dining venues during these spectacular buffets, giving
some of the hard working staff time off. I recognize the fact that some of
the serving staff has to work the buffet but many of them could be off.

CASUAL AFTERNOON TEA (it’s not high tea on Celebrity)

The afternoon tea on the Infinity is rather pedestrian. No scones except
on the day they have the tea in the Trellis dining room and they taste
more like Irish soda biscuits than scones, and the whipped cream is thin
and doesn’t stand up well. The rest of the time, tea is held in the buffet
area with tea and bite sized desserts.
MASTER CRUISE SCHEDULE

The “Infinity Daily” lists dining venues, events and shows, but only on a
daily basis. They should do a weekly sheet outlining the dress code for
each evening along with the entertainment lineup and the special buffets.
It would be helpful in planning your dining room alternatives and
entertainment in advance without waiting for the paper each day.

DRESS CODE

I know that some folks love to dress up, and I can stand one formal night,
but 3 in 10 days? It’s like kids playing dress up. Same with
informal...why should we have to wear a sport coat for 5 evenings on a
Hawaiian vacation?

Tasteful cruise or country club casual should be the norm in the dining
room and there should be one shorts night in the dining room, in my
opinion. Tasteful cruise casual is becoming the norm on some of the
smaller, upscale ships. Celebrity also forces you to keep your formal or
informal clothes on in order to be admitted to the shows.

Thumbs down on that. It’s supposed to be a vacation. The age demographic
is changing to a younger crowd and Celebrity needs a more contemporary
approach.

THE FITNESS CENTER

Lovely facility with modern equipment...all the goodies. State of the art.
The treadmills have the best views of the ship cutting through the sea.

The recumbent exercise bikes are off in a narrow aisle where the lights in
the low ceiling are so close that you heat up immediately using 3 of the 4
recumbent bikes.

I always went early in the AM to get my pick of the bikes and to avoid
having a mini flood light over my head as I excercised.

There were no disinfectant or throwaway wipes available in the gym to
clean the equipment before using it as there was on the Mercury. A lot of
folks use this equipment, and Celebrity needs to keep something handy so
passengers can clean off the machines before each use. And after, even.
They had us fill out a SARS questionaire but had no disinfectant in the
Gym. Go figure.

The other reason to get up and get fitness out of the way early is the
booming music that accompanies classes held in the same room that the
exercise equipment is in.

ENTERTAINMENT

We enjoyed the comedy magician, Carl Andrews, whom we saw on the
Mercury...he did all different material and we truly enjoyed his unique
act. We used to relax in the Rendez-Vous lounge before dinner watching the
dancers twirling to the music of the Atlantic duo; a couple of wild &
crazy guys from somewhere in eastern Europe playing everything from the
Beatles to Swing era favorites. They each sang, harmonized, & they played
3 or 4 different instruments.

Jason Richards held forth in Michael’s Piano Club and guitarist Deak
Dietrich could be found in the Ocean View bar aft.

We weren’t much interested in the production shows...the singers and
dancers worked very hard and the 8 piece Celebrity orchestra was good but
the shows tried to do too much of too many things while changing clothes a
lot. The sound system in the Celebrity theater was always too loud; the
sound guy was also running the light cues instead of just being able to
mix the sound.

We did enjoy when the Celebrity orchestra played for dancing or when the
cruise director did one of his numbers. Hell of a band. A line from Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance kid comes to mind, “These guys are good...”
CRUISE DIRECTOR

Don Fluke was the best Cruise Director we have ever sailed with. He
managed to be low key and upbeat at the same time. He kept it simple,
short and very pleasant. We are not big on the activities, but Don’s
demeanor caused us to attend more organized events that we would normally.
We won the movie trivia contest and the prizes were Celebrity travel alarm
clocks, not the usual T shirts or ball pens.

He came on one evening to introduce one of the headliners and performed a
showstopping number (the Joel Grey part) from the musical Cabaret with and
without a German accent. Fantastic!

We always watch the video of the disembarkation info and he said it all
quickly and easily. Kudos to him and his hardworking, equally low key but
always positive staff.

We’re hoping to take a 20 plus day cruise in the next year or so and we
would hope for a Cruise Director like him.

LIBRARY

It’s one of our favorite shipboard places...there are fiction and non
fiction books on 2 decks presided over by Andrea who is a knowledgeable
librarian. All kinds of books thoughfully selected, from cheap popular
fiction to interesting scholarly stuff.

A quiet and peaceful place to relax and read. Far superior in space,
ambience and selection to the older Mercury.
GOING ASHORE & RETURNING TO THE SHIP

is getting more difficult what with a lot of tendering coupled with
doubled security that we experienced in the Hawaiian islands.

When you return to the pier to board the ship or to board the tender to
the ship in Hawaii, there is an additional security setup on the pier to
clear you before you go to the ship and present yourself to Celebrity
security for another clearance.

This is on the pier before you return to the ship, where you have to
repeat the same process again almost immediately. This is the first time
we have experienced the doubling of the security process at any ports.

Federal law requires Celebrity to check you with their security troops;by
law they can’t accept the fact you have cleared pier security and pier
security refuses to accept Celebrity’s clearance process. They want to do
their own.

A knowledgeable merchant selling at the pier said that the double security
is to keep the Hawaiian security people employed and that is why the pier
won’t accept only Celebrity security clearing passengers. It makes you
think twice before venturing off the ship again for more shopping after
lunch and a nap. Passengers coming back to the ship in waves have to wait
in pier security lines, where they have to place all of their shore bought
goodies on the conveyor to the X-Ray machine and pass themselves through a
metal detector, empty their pockets again etc. and then repeat the process
moments later when they reboard the ship. Aargh!

KAUAI

Docked at Nawiliwili... No tendering... many free shuttles to shopping...a
beautiful ocean front Marriott hotel with a nice beach we were allowed to
use...a pleasant afternoon with a light tropical breeze...wandered the
huge semi open air public rooms of the hotel, admiring the sculpture, art
& landscaping etc...photographed a beautiful koi pond & bought some
Hawaiian slack key guitar CD’s to get into the island groove.

LAHAINA, MAUI

We tendered to shore and checked out the huge open air market happening
under the giant banyan tree situated in the center of town. Beautiful
place. Extremely hot and humid.

HILO & KONA

There are two ports on the Big Island. Hilo is a more industrial port. We
shuttled to Hilo Hattie’s and bought some island wear and then wandered
across the street to Wal-Mart where they had the best souvenirs with the
lowest prices. And gorgeous all-cotton Hawaiian print fabrics, very
well-priced. My wife bought all that was left of a couple of them and is
trying to get more.

We took a glass bottom boat excursion at $25.per head. It was a total rip
off. Nice little boat out to see a denuded, dead and almost fishless reef.
There was nothing to see. Celebrity shouldn’t offer tours that don’t
deliver.

TIPPING

We tip early in the week to insure better service.

Celebrity has the cabin attendant leave the tip envelopes in your cabin
wrapped in a band with the suggested tipping “guidelines” listed. They
have added envelopes for a 75 cents per person per day for the asst.
maitre d’ and 50 cents a day for the chief housekeeper into the usual
tipping mix.

I think that’s cutting it a bit fine. We always take care of the asst.
maitre d’ in our dining area when he deserves it, and the chief
housekeeper’s tip should be folded into the cabin attendant tip.
Vacationing passengers shouldn’t be asked to divide up and parcel out the
tokes. Staff involved should be responsible. It they need to raise the
cabin steward’s daily tip amount in order to accommodate the chief
housekeeper, so be it.

Celebrity seems to be trying to shame the less travelled passengers into
this multi envelope system in order to keep their employees happy and to
not effect Celebrity’s bottom line.

TIRED CREW

The wait staff, buffet serving line and service personnel are obviously
tired. There is no day off for them; a half day once in a while at best.
Some of them working the cafes during the day are almost zombie like. They
are fried. Close that dining room one day a week or combine other venues
and buffets so that the troops can refresh themselves a bit. They never
stop smiling though, because in the world they come from these are very
good jobs that allow them to save money to buy a house etc. To me it
smacks of indentured servitude.

Management style seems to turn out all of the troops all of the time so
they can make sure that everything is covered even when the venue is not
full of passengers needing service.

Rotating the closing of the dining venues would allow time off and give
the passengers something different. I don’t know how many cruisers notice
the crew but we’ve spent our working lives scheduling motion picture and
TV production crews and we know from our own personal experience how
gruelling weeks are with no days off.

These nice crewpersons are tired and it shows. Crystal manages to rotate
the troops better but Crystal is also in my opinion the best managed
cruise line.

SUMMING UP

We think we have found a cruise home with Celebrity. We had a nice cruise.
We particularly enjoyed the high speed run between Hawaii and Vancouver.
The cruises for us are about the voyages and the ability to relax and wind
down. Celebrity fits the bill better than most in this price range. The
Infinity was a great cruise vacation. The Aqua Spa grill was a real treat.
I’m resigning myself to the fact that it’s banquet food in the dining room
because of the reality of serving eight or nine thousand meals a day.
Celebrity is better than most Las Vegas hotels in the food area. We
thought the internet service was a rip off price wise and we miss the
washer/dryer rooms available on Crystal, HAL etc. We also want more TV
choices when the ship is in satellite or antenna range; it’s easy to do in
this modern world. We loved the library and the lounge entertainment a
lot.

We missed having a protected promenade deck where you can keep walking
round and round and then plop in a nice lounge chair when the mood strikes
you, away from the hurly burly of the well attended, organized hi jinks on
the pool decks. The little jogging track on the top of the ship is not
long enough and too windswept when the ship is making 23 knots and
sunswept when in port.

We are looking forward to our next cruise sailing from Anchorage to
Vancouver on the brand new Island Princess on Sept.13th.

We have the good fortune to live directly across Burrard inlet from Canada
Place where we see all the ships coming and going in the summer. We
watched the Island Princess sail in under Lion’s Gate Bridge and dock at
Canada Place here in Vancouver a month ago for her christening ceremony
and it’s a majestic ship. We can’t wait.